COMPUTERIZATION OF OBSTETRIC ANTENATAL HISTORIES

Computers have existed for over 40 years. Their evolution has transfor med them from being merely big calculators into versatile user-friendl y machines with the possibility to interact with the operator. Within their clinical capacity one of their main benefits is within the area of quality assurance. When applied in an appropriate way in obstetrics , they can actually lead to improved antenatal care. This can be achie ved through obtaining a more standardized and comprehensive patient hi story and the use of management suggestions, made by the computer, in response to specific items in the patient history. These suggestions a re titled 'action prompts'. Other quality assurance advantages exist w ithin the areas of legibility and availability of individual patient f iles, while within a general setting they lend themselves easily to re search and education. All these advantages will make computer generate d antenatal histories and summaries more likely to be widely implement ed in the future.